The invention relates to a signature collating and binding system with selectively controllable signature feeders, printers, and other apparatus.
Selective actuation of signature feeders by coded subscriber information is a known procedure which allows a single collating and binding system to simultaneously build different versions of a book of signatures, such as different editions of a magazine. As is conventional, a book of signatures is any collection or group of signatures. Each signature is comprised of one or more sheets. The thicknesses of different books of signatures will vary depending on which feeders or inserters are actuated in response to the special interests of the subscribers. Examples of such systems are disclosed in Abram et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,899,165, and Riley et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,121,818.
Mailing labels are placed on each book of signatures and must correspond to the coded information which produced the customized books of signatures. In the past this has been accomplished by reading pre-printed labels to develop the coded information. Alternatively, the coded information was stored on magnetic tape which was read and later controlled a printer which printed the mailing information directly on the books of signatures.
Printers also have been associated with card inserters. The printers were located after the signature feeders and before the stitcher. This allowed custom information, such as renewal information on a loose card, to be printed before it is inserted in an already-constructed book of signatures. The card could be bound in by paste to prevent it being separated from its book of signatures.
While those systems were versatile for producing different editions of magazines or the like during a single production run, they could be improved. The contents of the different editions or variations are determined entirely by the signatures which are loaded in the signature feeders and selected. Since the number of signature feeders reaches a practical maximum, there is a limit to the number of signature permutations in concurrently run books of signatures. In order to provide customer flexibility many bindery lines now have thirty signature-gatherer boxes or more. Such bindery lines consume large amounts factory space. At the same time customers want even more capability and flexibility as to mixing and matching signatures.
When running such multi-version jobs many production bindery lines may use twenty out of twenty four signature-gatherer boxes rather consistently. Selections of signatures from the other four boxes are only made infrequently. This is because not many customers receive the versions which include one or more of these four other signatures. As a result, the contents of these four signature-gatherer boxes are accessed rarely, perhaps only once or twice during an eight-hour shift. The signature feeding mechanism of each of these boxes, however, runs all the time. Only the vacuum is left off. This results in rarely-selected signatures that are mechanically vibrated back and forth to the extent that when the vacuum is finally turned on to feed a signature, the signature is sometimes out of position and causes a jam and shutdown of the entire collating and binding line.
What is needed is a collating and binding system that satisfies the customers"" requirements for running more versions of a single bindery production while maintaining postal discounts due to carrier route bundling and, at the same time, not to increase the length of the bindery lines. Obviously, the cost of each additional signature-gatherer box used only once or twice in an eight-hour shift is exorbitant.
The present invention is embodied in a collating and binding system which can rapidly and efficiently produce customized books of signatures. The system includes a plurality of feeders for delivering signatures. A conveyor receives the signatures to build like groups of signatures. Coded dates of like groups of signatures and unlike groups is stored in a machine readable medium such as a tape or disk. A coded data transfer apparatus transfers a portion of the data and prints marking information on groups of like signatures in response thereto.
One of the objects of the present invention is to change the coded information on the magnetic tape supplied by the publisher in order to first strip out and create a new tape file for the greatest quantity version. Secondly, to maintain the carrier route bundling advantage. For example, version A contains 1.2 million insertion counts, version B contains 900,000, version C 700,000 and versions D through I decreasing amounts. Based on these amounts, the present invention will sort bundles on codes A, B and C in non-selective runs. The remaining versions D through I will continue in selective runs, however, they will obviously be shorter runs.
The results of such a reorganization of production and the obvious advantages are as follows:
(1) Reduction of the number of packer boxes;
(2) Shorter make-ready times;
(3) Increased machine speeds;
(4) Greatly reduced postal reorders;
(5) Lower wages;
(6) Fewer press lifts;
(7) Reduced spoilage requirements; and
(8) Less equipment
In another example, customer A was to be 100% electronic. This method reduced the requirement to only 17% electronic and 83% non-electronic with a postal increase of only $300.00. Looking at this in another way, the 100% electronic translates to seven bindery lines with 10 packer boxes each. However, the 17% electronic requires only one machine with ten packer boxes. Meanwhile, the remaining 83% which is now non-electronic can be run on six machines with only five packer boxes each. The result here is an overall binding day reduction of twenty days and a postal charge increase of only $300.00. Otherwise, the product going to the addresses has not changed at all and the changes in the method of creating the individual versions are totally transparent to the customer.